Still feel the need for a scare? Visit Nu'ville Horrors in Second Life!

This year's Helloween brought us a real overkill of horror builds in Second Life. We did see some fantastic games like "The Well Sollicitus" or "System Failure" and many themed events and places. I really hoped that the horror theme is sucked dry for good, but a nicely done latecomer arrived on the scene: the creators and real life sisters, Anya Ohmai (owner of Ohmai) and Suetabulous Yootz (owner of Beetlebones), have released Nuville Horrors - a Second Life experience (running until February 2nd).

Nu'ville Horrors is an immersive experience with a ride to enjoy and a hunt with 50 gifts. "At the spooky town of Nuville your final destination will be the 13th floor, so why don't you take your time and knock on each and every door?" Well, the entry prize for this experience could be an obstacle for some: you can either join the group for 800 lindens and get unlimited access to the sim or pay 100 lindens for a bus ticket (which is valid for 12 hours). Fellow bloggers write that the prizes are of such a great quality that they are well worth the expenses.

System Failure - a fascinating point and click adventure in Second Life

These are great times for people who love to play games based on the Second Life platform. Halloween is the period when a lot of Second Life builders want to present something special. Yesterday I found another Second Life game that is absolutely amazing: System Failure.

What is the secret behind these little robots with chain saw limbs?

System Failure is the seventh "Halloween Survival Game" by Pulse Games and it is open until November 17 - so don't miss it! It is a point and click adventure game in the tradition of LucasArts' Maniac Mension or Monkey Island. It is an completely interactive, story driven Second Life gaming experience with multiple levels across several sims. There are challenging puzzles, some scares and even hidden prizes from dozens of famous designers. And despite this attractive gaming package, the whole experience is for free.

Shield Technologies is one of the largest and most omnipresent corporations of the modern world, researching, developing and producing some of the most advanced products we all use every day to better our lives. But what is happening at their newest and most expensive facility will terrify you! Where did all the workers go and why did they leave all their belongings behind? It's up to YOU to find out and what you uncover, could kill you! [pulsegames.blogspot]

Loki's "THE WELL: Sollicitus" - Second Life as a game engine

One of the bloggers that I follow regularly, Ciaran Laval, has recently asked if LL is working on a new project, making Second Life also a game engine.  He thinks that the TOS change might have an origin in an aim of Linden Lab to enable Second Life to become a game engine as well. 

Desura, the digital distribution platform Linden Lab own lists a number of game engines for devs to get their hands on. There are big players such as Unity 3D , Unreal Development Kit and CryEngine3. However there are also much smaller players such as Ren’PY for visual novels and Adventure Game Studio for those who want to make point and click adventures. These latter ones are the ones where I think opportunity could knock for Linden Lab.

Picture by Uccello Poultry

It is funny that Ciaran's post coincides with one of the best game experiences that I have had so far in Second Life. Loki has just released his newest Second Life game called "The Well: Solicitus" and you shouldn't miss it as it will only accessible for one month. The game is a sequel of a Second Life mini-adventure that people could play last year at Halloween time. 

The story is that a year after the events of 2012, a team of scientific investigators are sent down the well to understand the caves strange geology and maybe find a clue to why the rescue team and a young boy disappeared with no trace. You arrive a day later than the rest of the team to find the make shift lab abandoned. [lokielot.com]

HELLOWEEN at the Sound Garden Rock Club

The Sound Garden Rock Club is a rock club in Second Life that branched out a little with a great "HELLOWEEN" themed build. Don't miss the features such as a Zombie Killing Swamp with prizes for highest death count and a themed Hunt with fabulous prizes.

Don't get pulled under the trap door.

The haunted house containing the hunting items has some really well done horror scenes and it is nothing for sensible minds. There is a lot of blood and a quite psychotic imagery. The effects animations and sounds are well done and make an impression. You won't get bored hunting for the little treasure chests.

One of the less bloody places...

There is also a haunted graveyard with little trick or treat ghosts that either trick you or treat you. Most of the time your activities in this great built will be accompanied with some of the best rock DJs and hosts on the grid. The place will be open until the 3rd of November. Enjoy the interactive build  and don't forget to sit and click every where.

Rabid Rabbits - A Second Life Experience Game from Loki Eliot

Loki Eliot has released a new game on Easter Monday and it combines adventure game with hunt game and jump'n'run game elements. Go and help the Goblins to get their Sacred Statues back from the Rabid Rabbits. Play a game of finding Rabbit holes, bashing Bunnies, collecting Sacred Statues and pleasing the Goblin King of the Goblins. 

Using the free HUD you meet the Goblin King, get a given a weapon and sent to search the island for nine Rabid Rabbit Holes, each containing a Sacred Statue. The game length depends on how quick you can find the Rabbit Holes and can be from 15 mins to an hour. It uses RPG story telling elements at the start before letting you loose with a weapon system that has its own damage system where you need to eat sushi to regain health.

MadPea's "The Escape" and the role of HUDs for story telling

Check out another great gaming experience that is based on a heads-up display (HUD): MadPea's "Escape Room". 

There are two editions of the game. One is set in a run down motel room, the other in a Seventies design stage at its finest: Wallpaper with huge eyes, lava lamp, Kiss poster and even a record player. But whatever room you chose - once you're in, you will notice that you cannot get out of there. That's when the game starts! 

The "Escape Room" HUD serves as an interactive inventory space displaying pictures of the items that have been collected. The game itself follows the principle of "point and click" flash games that you can find on the internet. Look for interesting items in the room and click on them. You will get some items in your HUD. You can select, view and combine the collected items in your HUD and they can operate with other items in the room.

Loki's "The Cheese Fairy"

Today I want to show you a very short SL experience created by Loki Eliot. The so called Cheese Fairy quest is available AT NEMO BEACH. If you try this experimental mini-game you might get an idea about the potential of future adventure games in SL. The story is uncovered by clicking things which trigger the HUD to show encounter bubbles similar to what you find in RPG games. An entire RPG story could be stored in a HUD.

You can either watch this video I made or play it yourself in +/- 5 minutes.

When I played Loki's "Cheese Fairy" experience the first time I was really enthusiastic about it because it shows that interactive riddles and story telling is at least theoretically possible in Second Life. I had to think of the Electrobit City Sim: if players would meet such AI-characters there that send them to accomplish a quest, it would be fairly easy to transform this "exploring place" into a "real game". And that would be a great mix of old jump-and-run elements with adventure game elements. I would really love that!

Loki has also written a blog post about developing the Cheese Fairy experience. I really hope that he will continue this path in the future.

Some short news

• I just opened the SL destination guide looking for the latest games additions.  I almost dropped out of my shoes when I found my parcel there. Ok, I did submit it a few days ago, but I would never have expected it to pop up as number two in the games section.... I bet that people will enjoy the "SnowBallFight" shoot-out game of Jackk Eales as much as I do.

Some lighthearted fun in the snow

• If you haven't been at Loki's "The Well" you should go there before the end of December. Afterwards the prims will be needed for new projects and the game destination will be closed. I made a short teaser of this SL experience:

• My blog has been added to the SL bloggers directory that contains almost 2000 recent and past Second Life bloggers. My blog is the first one filed under the heading "Games".

Loki's The Well - An SL experience

Loki Elliot has a long history of game creation in Second Life such as the "Babbage Chronicles" or "The John King Experience". The name of the latter points to the genre definition for mini-games like "The Well": an experience. Just like in SL adventure games the player is interacting with characters and objects in order to advance in the story line. The SL experience differs in my eyes from an SL adventure game such as "The Guarden" by all or some of the following criteria:

• The game is rather short or consists of a longer series of short scenes
• The puzzles are not very complex - the actions triggered by game objects and characters do not change based upon steps taken earlier in the game
• there are not alternative game paths, solutions or endings

Picture taken from Loki Elliot's blog